DEFINING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Transcription
DEFINING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP REPORT DEFINING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT FACTS & FIGURES REPORT EDITION SAMPLE COUNTRIES 6TH 49,775 44 FIELDWORK May to August 2015 SAMPLE 49,775 women and men aged 14 – 99 (representative target groups of the countries’ populations) COUNTRIES Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam. In China, Colombia, India, Mexico and South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam only people in metropolitan areas participated. PREFACE Today more than ever, people are turning to entrepreneurship to achieve the lifestyles they desire. And as social and economic climates change, so do the reasons people venture out on their own. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the motivations and desires of entrepreneurs, Amway has conducted the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report the past several years. The 2015 report is our biggest yet surveying nearly 50,000 respondents in 44 countries. This year’s study focused on “Defining the Entrepreneurial Spirit.” by introducing the “Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index”. We also found most entrepreneurs enjoy learning new things, want to enjoy life and like to be in charge. Fear of failure and a lack of confidence were also themes many hopeful entrepreneurs shared. Fortunately, many countries, organizations and businesses around the world are investing in programs to eliminate these hurdles – investments we hope to see more of in the future. Helping people start a business of their own has been Amway’s passion since our founding more than half a century ago. Entrepreneurship is a way for people to realize a better life for themselves and their families. Entrepreneurs also create jobs and encourage competition. They spur economic growth and bring opportunities to communities. So it’s important businesses like Amway know how entrepreneurs think and act in order to better support and encourage them. We’ll continue to do what we can to help entrepreneurs have the best possible chance at owning and succeeding in business. We believe entrepreneurs bring a lot of value to the people around them and our hope is this study helps advance that understanding. METHOD Face-to-face / telephone interviews INSTITUTE GfK Nuremberg, Germany Doug DeVos President 2 #AGER2015 Steve Van Andel Chairman #AGER2015 3 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY KEY RESULTS OF THE AMWAY GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP REPORT 2015 “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”1 Each day, entrepreneurs follow that spirit and thereby contribute to the competitiveness and prosperity of our countries. Yet, how do people around the world feel about entrepreneurs? And what do people actually think about becoming an entrepreneur themselves? The 2015 Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report (AGER) aims to shed light on these questions and provide a current picture of the reputation of entrepreneurship. PROF. DR. ISABELL M. WELPE Chair for Strategy and Organization, Technische Universität München (TUM) This year’s findings show that entrepreneurs are perceived as avid learners who strive for success. Half of the respondents perceive the society as entrepreneurship-friendly. Entrepreneurship remains highly valued by three quarters of the respondents and almost half can imagine starting a business. The newly introduced Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index (AESI) measures motivational factors for starting a business. It shows that young respondents2 have the strongest desire to becoming self-employed. As age increases the desire for entrepreneurship weakens, yet middle-aged respondents3 are the most confident in having the necessary resources and skills. When asked about drivers and obstacles to starting a business, respondents are motivated most by independence and self-fulfillment. The fear of failure is a strong obstacle to more than two thirds of respondents, mainly driven by the fear of financial consequences from business failure. WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP? Entrepreneurship is a valuable source of innovation and renewal to our society. Governments establish entrepreneurship programs to increase entrepreneurial activity, such as education or funding. However, what does the general public think about entrepreneurs? And how entrepreneurship-friendly does the general public rate their society? Respondents to the 2015 AGER shared their opinion on these questions. Our behavior and actions are guided across cultures by a set of general motivational values,4 and each entrepreneur (as everyone else) has his or her own individual set of values5. The general public expresses a clear picture on what values they feel characterize entrepreneurs6. Respondents think that entrepreneurs are foremost open for change, followed by a focus on personal success7. Openness for change refers to values, such as learning new things, and risk-taking, which 84 percent and 70 percent respectively of the respondents attribute to entrepreneurs. Personal success comprise values such as enjoying one’s life (78 percent) and wanting to be in charge of others (75 percent). On the contrary, fewer respondents think that entrepreneurs are driven by values such as tradition (48 percent). Interestingly, the results from female and male respondents reveal no difference, and only minor differences can be found across age groups. ship-friendly environment. This opinion is shared across age groups and gender. However, between countries approval rates largely differ. In countries that are characterized by avoiding uncertainty8, respondents perceive their society much less friendly towards entrepreneurship. When considering culture, lower values in countries are likely to be caused to some degree by their cultural values. Together, in the public opinion, entrepreneurs are seen as open for change and striving for success with a rather friendly view on entrepreneurship. At least that’s how respondents felt when voicing their opinion toward other entrepreneurs. The next section goes a step further to ask how respondents think about entrepreneurship as an opportunity for themselves. WHO WANTS TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR? Becoming an entrepreneur involves two critical factors. First, the emergence of an entrepreneurial opportunity and second, the intention to start a business9,10. While the occurrence of business opportunities are rare events, a person can intend to become an entrepreneur at any time. In 2015, the entrepreneurial potential – measured as the proportion of respondents who can imagine starting a business – remains high at 43 percent. However, the entrepreneurial potential varies between demographic groups. Female respondents are less willing to start a business compared to male respondents 11. And as age increases respondents are less inclined to becoming self-employed, which is consistent with prior findings12,13. Given the importance of intending to start a business when facing an opportunity, the Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index examines drivers of individuals’ intentions to start a business. THE AMWAY ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT INDEX: AESI Intentions toward a certain behavior – such as the willingness to start a business – are driven by motivational factors9,10. The more favorable these factors are for the behavior, the more persistent people will be to succeed. The 2015 AGER introduces the Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index14, which builds on three established motivational factors. The index consists of the respondents’ perception of: • Desirability: whether respondents desire to start a business. •Stability against social pressure: whether respondents would let their social environment, such as family and friends, dissuade them from starting a business. • Feasibility: whether respondents feel prepared to start a business. GLOBAL AESI AVERAGE The Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index score may range from 0 to 100. The score is calculated as the mean of its three subdimensions. 51 SCORE 55% 49% 47% DESIRE STABILITY FEASABLE The global AESI score is at 5115: 55 percent of the respondents have the desire to start a business, 47 percent think starting a business is feasible, and 49 percent would not let their social environment dissuade them from starting a business. Results are inconclusive on how entrepreneurship-friendly respondents perceive the society in their country. Only half are convinced that society provides an entrepreneur- 4 #AGER2015 #AGER2015 5 AESI: DESIRABILITY The desire to start a business falls with increasing age. 65% AGE GROUP UNDER 35 YEARS 58% AGE GROUP 35 TO 49 YEARS 44% AGE GROUP OVER 50 YEARS As suggested, the higher a country’s AESI score, the more respondents can imagine starting a business. The dimensions of the AESI provide explanations for differences in the entrepreneurial potential among demographic groups described above. Compared to men, fewer female respondents report starting a business as desirable and feasible, as well as more female respondents would let others close to them dissuade them from starting a business16. This result is reflected in the lower fraction of women that can imagine starting a business11. A different pattern can be found across age groups. The desire to start a business falls with increasing age. While 65 percent of the respondents younger than 35 years report starting a business as desirable, only 44 percent of the respondents older than 50 do so. Otherwise, respondents age 35 to 49 show the highest confidence in being prepared to start a business. Respondents age 50 or older score lowest in desirability, feasibility and stability against social pressure. ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP Attitudes in favor of entrepreneurship foster the intention to start a business17 by raising its desirability 9. Around the world, respondents still highly value entrepreneurship with 75 percent of the respondents having a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship18. And although agreement varies across surveyed countries, it is remarkable that in every country the majority of respondents is positive about entrepreneurship (see page 7). Differences between countries can be attributed again to cultural differences. Countries avoiding uncertainty8 are less positive about entrepreneurship. REFERENCES The origin of the quote is unclear. Both Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the USA and Peter Drucker, management researcher, are attributed the authorship. 1 Young respondents are referred to the age of 34 or younger. 2 Middle-aged respondents range from the age of 35 to 49 years. 3 Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Science Issue, 50(4), 19–45. 4 Holland, D. V. & Shepherd, D. A. (2013). Deciding to persist: Adversity, values, and entrepreneurs’ decision policies. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(2), 331–358. 5 Respondents answered ten questions on how they think what motivates entrepreneurs. Each question referred to one of the ten dimensions of Schwartz’s (1994) motivational values. The questions were derived from Hinz et al. (2005) and adapted for the questionnaire. C.f., Hinz, A., Brähler, E., Schmidt, P., & Albani, C. (2005). Investigating the circumplex structure of the portrait values questionnaire. Journal of Individual Differences, 26(4), 185–193. 6 The ten values can be aggregated to higher order values such as openness for change (Schwartz, 1994). 7 Uncertainty avoidance is a cultural dimension and “expresses the degree to which the members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.” (http://geert-hofstede.com/ national-culture.html) 8 Krueger, N. F. & Brazeal, D. V. (1994). Entrepreneurial potential and potential entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18(3), 91–104. 9 Beyond the general attitude towards entrepreneurship, research identified specific attitudes towards or against entrepreneurship. The attitudes towards income and independence should foster entrepreneurship, while disapproval of risk should impede entrepreneurship17. For all age groups and regardless of gender, independence and self-fulfillment are the most appealing reasons to start a business. Income related attitudes are less important. Worth noting, respondents from countries with a higher GDP per capita19 also rate self-fulfillment as a strong reason to start a business. As expected, respondents address the risk associated with self-employment17. 70 percent of the respondents perceive the fear of failure as an obstacle to becoming selfemployed, which is consistent with the results from 2013. The strongest drivers for the fear of failure are the financial consequences of business failure followed by the threat of economic crises. Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, 50(2), 179–211. 10 The entrepreneurial potential for female respondents is 38%, for male respondents 47%. 11 Zhao, H., Seigert, S. E. & Hills, G. E. (2005). The mediating role of self-efficacy in the development of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1265–1272. 12 Hatak, I., Harms, R., & Fink, M. (2015). Age, job identification, and entrepreneurial intention. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(1), 38–53. 13 The Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index builds on Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior. 14 The index is calculated from the mean of its dimensions. The exact value of the AESI is 50.6 percent: Desirability: 55.0 percent, Stability against social pressure: 49.5 percent, Feasibility: 47.3 percent. 15 CONCLUSION The respondents to the 2015 AGER think of the society as relatively entrepreneurshipfriendly and describe entrepreneurs as open to learning and striving for success. The Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index will help to better understand why demographic groups can (or cannot) imagine starting a business. Targeted entrepreneurship programs are in place to both increase the desire and the preparedness for starting a business and increasing acceptance in society. The only downside is fear of financial consequences from business failure is still a severe obstacle for starting a business. Addressing this issue might give potential entrepreneurs just the push they need to get started. And when they do, it will pay off, for everybody. Perceived feasibility of starting a business: 42 percent of female vs. 52 percent male respondents. Desirability of starting a business: 51 percent female vs. 59 percent male respondents. Stability against social pressure: 47 percent female vs. 52 percent male respondents. 16 Douglas, E. J. & Shepherd, D. A. (2002). Self-employment as a career choice: Attitudes, entrepreneurial intentions, and utility maximization. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 26(3), 81–90. 17 For countries surveyed across the years 2013 and 2014, the overall positive attitude towards entrepreneurship remained at a similar level. 18 Data source for GDP per capita: World Bank data from 2014 (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ NY.GDP.PCAP.CD). 19 6 #AGER2015 #AGER2015 7 ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTITUDE AND POTENTIAL INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-FULFILLMENT QUESTION: How do you see entrepreneurship and can you imagine starting a business? QUESTION: In your opinion, which aspects appeal to you as reasons to start up your own business? 38% 45% 96% DENMARK 33% 94% NORWAY 62% 91% CHINA 47% 91% ESTONIA 77% 90% COLOMBIA 81% 90% MEXICO 38% 90% SWEDEN 43% 89% FINLAND 42% 88% SWITZERLAND 71% 88% VIETNAM 43% 86% CANADA 51% 86% USA 44% 85% AUSTRALIA 58% 85% BRAZIL 34% 38% 32% 24% BETTER COMPATIBILITY OF FAMILY, LEISURE TIME AND CAREER 41% 84% GREAT BRITAIN 40% 84% NETHERLANDS 51% 83% LATVIA 48% 83% LITHUANIA 45% 83% SLOVENIA 53% 79% SOUTH AFRICA 36% 77% FRANCE 48% 76% MALAYSIA 43% 75% GLOBAL 33% 73% BELGIUM 42% 73% ITALY 60% 72% THAILAND 38% 71% POLAND 37% 71% RUSSIA 34% 51% SECOND INCOME PROSPECTS 45% 38% AGE GROUPS < 35 35 – 49 >= 50 52% 70% INDIA 52% 69% GREECE 37% 69% SPAIN 37% 68% IRELAND 37% 66% CZECH REPUBLIC 48% 66% KOREA 13% 63% JAPAN SELF-FULFILLMENT, POSSIBILITY TO REALIZE OWN IDEAS 53% 29% 63% UKRAINE 25% 61% CROATIA 35% 61% HUNGARY 25% 60% GERMANY 39% 58% TURKEY 39% 57% PORTUGAL 51% 43% 33% 55% SLOVAKIA 27% 25% 24% 24% 54% BULGARIA 26% 54% ROMANIA 29% 51% AUSTRIA Blue squares represent positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. The red squares depict the entrepreneurship potential which is measured as the portion of respondents who can imagine starting a business. Countries are put in descending order of the positive attitude. 8 #AGER2015 RETURN TO JOBMARKET, ALTERNATIVE TO UNEMPLOYMENT INDEPENDENCE FROM AN EMPLOYER, BEING MY OWN BOSS #AGER2015 9 AMWAY ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT INDEX QUESTION: If you think of yourself, do you agree with the following statements? I consider starting a business as a desirable career opportunity for myself (desire). My family or friends could never dissuade me from starting a business (stability against social pressure). I possess the necessary skills and resources for starting a business (feasability). INDEX 51 79 79 79 77 74 74 10 Countries with similar score are ranked regarding the not illustrated decimal places in the data. RANK DESIRE STABILITY GLOBAL AVERAGE 55% 49% 47% 01. INDIA 94% 76% 68% 02. CHINA 85% 71% 81% 03. THAILAND 89% 76% 72% 04. VIETNAM 89% 67% 75% 05. SOUTH AFRICA 76% 73% 73% 06. 85% 60% 76% #AGER2015 MEXICO 50 FEASABLE 73 70 69 62 60 59 54 07. MALAYSIA 82% 67% 69% 08. SLOVENIA 71% 77% 63% 09. BRAZIL 77% 67% 63% 10. TURKEY 66% 64% 55% 11. LITHUANIA 82% 56% 41% 12. COLOMBIA 85% 33% 60% 13. 57% 62% 43% FINLAND 53 53 53 52 52 52 51 14. USA 57% 43% 60% 15. DENMARK 64% 41% 53% 16. NETHERLANDS 48% 59% 51% 17. CZECH REPUBLIC 62% 56% 38% 18. GREECE 65% 51% 39% 19. IRELAND 47% 53% 55% 20. 54% 44% 56% AUSTRALIA 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 21. ITALY 54% 51% 44% 22. CANADA 47% 43% 59% 23. SWEDEN 50% 44% 52% 24. GREAT BRITAIN 44% 45% 55% 25. SWITZERLAND 46% 44% 50% 26. SLOVAKIA 53% 49% 37% 27. LATVIA 54% 38% 44% 28. 62% 37% 34% KOREA 44 44 44 44 41 39 38 37 29. NORWAY 40% 39% 54% 30. SPAIN 46% 45% 42% 31. PORTUGAL 45% 45% 42% 32. ESTONIA 46% 49% 37% 33. BELGIUM 41% 42% 40% 34. FRANCE 29% 45% 42% 35. ROMANIA 39% 51% 24% 36. 38% 52% 22% HUNGARY 35 35 34 32 31 29 28 19 37. BULGARIA 42% 36% 27% 38. AUSTRIA 27% 40% 37% 39. UKRAINE 42% 43% 28% 40. RUSSIA 43% 30% 23% 41. GERMANY 26% 38% 29% 42. POLAND 24% 28% 34% 43. CROATIA 18% 38% 28% 44. JAPAN 29% 19% 8% #AGER2015 11 FEAR OF FAILURE QUESTION: In your opinion, is the fear to fail an obstacle to starting a business and if yes, which of those aspects contribute the most to this fear of failing with an enterprise? ENTREPRENEURSHIPFRIENDLINESS QUESTION: If you please think about politics, media coverage and the people you know: How entrepreneurship-friendly is the society in your country in general? 70% 4% YES SOCIETY IN MY COUNTRY IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP-FRIENDLY … no answer NO 26% Obstacles starting a business: 41% Financial burdens up to bankruptcy 16% Threat of unemployment 15% Personal disappointment 12% Disappointing or losing my family 8% Reputation loss in front of friends, co-workers, or business partners 12 #AGER2015 29% Threat of the economic crisis 16% Legal consequences, lawsuits 13% Being forced to take over the responsibility 8% Not to be given a second chance DENMARK 84% SOUTH AFRICA 78% THAILAND 78% GREAT BRITAIN 75% CHINA 73% INDIA 73% VIETNAM 73% SWEDEN 70% NETHERLANDS 68% USA 67% MALAYSIA 66% SWITZERLAND 66% NORWAY 66% AUSTRALIA 65% IRELAND 60% BELGIUM 58% ESTONIA 58% RUSSIA 56% POLAND 54% TURKEY 53% GREECE 52% GLOBAL AVERAGE 50% CZECH REPUBLIC 50% FINLAND 50% AUSTRIA 49% LATVIA 49% MEXICO 49% KOREA 48% GERMANY 44% LITHUANIA 44% UKRAINE 43% FRANCE 43% ITALY 43% CROATIA 37% SLOVAKIA 34% BRAZIL 33% SPAIN 33% JAPAN 30% COLOMBIA 28% SLOVENIA 24% HUNGARY 20% ROMANIA 19% CANADA 18% PORTUGAL 16% BULGARIA 8% #AGER2015 13 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR QUESTION: Do you agree with those statements about entrepreneurs? 84% Entrepreneurs like to learn things 78% Entrepreneurs want to enjoy life 75% Entrepreneurs like to be in charge and tell others what to do 70% Entrepreneurs look for adventures and like to take risks 70% Entrepreneurs think that the safety of their country is very important 14 #AGER2015 68% Entrepreneurs like to stand out and impress other people 62% Entrepreneurs want to help people 60% Entrepreneurs think people should follow rules at all times, even when no one is watching 54% Entrepreneurs want justice for everybody, even for people they don’t know 48% Entrepreneurs are traditional #AGER2015